


the riddling truth

by poalimal



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Histories, Ethnocentrism, F/M, Gen, Grains of Truth, Identity, Implied Power Imbalance, M/M, Misogyny, Not Romance, Political Marriage, Reconciliation, Religion, Storytelling, Xenophobia, canon variations, dialogue-heavy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-01
Updated: 2018-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-16 13:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 7,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14166270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: 'I am good, I am clean,' says Hanuman. 'I am wicked, I am small. Who am I?'





	1. Part One.

 

'I am good, I am clean,' said Hanuman. 'I am wicked, I am small. Who am I?'

Bast turned at the sound of his voice and opened her eyes. For she had been asleep in her bed when he came in. '--Are you rotting fruit?' she asked.

But Hanuman shook his great woolly head. 'In all the world,' he hinted, 'I am loved most by Mighty Hanuman.'

'Oh, is it me?' She thought for a moment, then nipped at his heels. 'But I am not wicked!'

'No, no, it is not you,' said Hanuman, leaping up laughing, 'it is my children!'

 

* * *

 

And that is how they say the quarrel began. For Bast, you know, is a very jealous god.

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

 _From the Court of T------a-king, of the line of B------a. Year 3, Month 5, Twelve-day. Quest. of marriage, answer-4, session-26, hour-3. Record. by Ss. F----h. XH transcr. by Ss. A---o. SW, ORO, BRB, AMH transl. by Sb. D----o. YRB, IGB, HS transl. by Br. O-----i. ENG transl. by Br. T---e. Avail. per .vib and stream_.

THE HIGH PRIEST  
Now Prince T'Chaka as a young man so loved his brother the laughing Prince that he went to Bast and asked for a new path to the Black Panther, one not so steeped in blood.

And Bast heard Prince T'Chaka, and came to him from out of the thundercloud. 'I will give you what you ask. But first you must answer me this:

I look down upon you in all things,  
and still my hand for fear of blood.  
Who am I?'

Now the Prince T'Chaka loved Bast above all others, but he knew She had harboured the hurt of Her brother Hanuman's betrayal all these many long years, and took every opportunity to mock His riddling.

So Prince T'Chaka sat and thought a long time about how to answer Her. And he took so long that Bast grew tired from holding up the heavens. So she marked his leg and went to sleep beside him. For this reason T'Chaka is still known in some places as The Silver One.

By and by the truth came to the Prince, and he waited until the morning had come and passed and Bast had awoken.

Again She said:

'I look down upon you in all things,  
and still my hand for fear of blood.  
Who am I?

Answer quickly, child, or I will strike you down.'

'You are Bast, keeper of the skies,' answered the Prince T'Chaka. 'You fear not the blood of your enemies, but the blood of your beloved. Our enemies cower not at your strength, but because you reason to strike.'

Bast heard him. And she wept for love of Hanuman. For ever since their brother was stolen, it had been the two of them all alone. How She had missed Him, all these many long years! And Prince T'Chaka marvelled at Her tears.

Finally Bast raised Her head and spoke once more: 'You have done well, child. Come now, and I will show you a different path, one that has not been travelled since My daughter Bashenga walked amongst you.'

And so Bast fed Prince T'Chaka the bitterfruit and showed him the new path. And when the Prince awoke after many days asleep, he embraced his intended and told her all that he had seen. Now the good Ramonda was as clever as she was relieved, and she told him to tell no one of his dream until he became King.

'For,' she said, 'it will create further discord between you and your brother.' For Ramonda was a true Jabari woman, and she never fully believed in the goodness of Bast. And T'Chaka held his heart back from the laughing Prince because of this--

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Man, we really can't skip any of this?

THE HIGH PRIEST  
\--Ski--? I-- My King?

THE KING  
I did not ask the question, Zuri. Please give us an answer.

THE HIGH PRIEST  
\--Ahh. No, we cannot skip the family histories. They determine our direction as one body.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Y'all really have to do this every time someone gets married or adopted or whatever? What about when the families is beefing? Huh? Y'all never think, Maybe this might make someone really angry?

And don't think I don't see you, Auntie. A true Jabari woman, huh? You been down here how many years? And at the end of the day, that's still all you are to them. An outsider. Hh!

[No resp. fr. Queen-mother, srv.]

THE HIGH PRIEST  
You misunderstand. It is tra--

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
It's trh-what? I know you're not about to say 'tradition' to me. I mean, I wouldn't even be here if it was up to tradition. Would I? Uncle James.

THE KING  
Excuse us, Zuri. We ask for a withdrawal.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Withdraw, what? I didn't say I wanted to withdraw! What the fuck, man?

THE KING  
Ease now. I am asking for Zuri to be replaced by a different Speaker. I will have your heart this day, and I cannot have it filled with pain.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Ok. Well. I mean... Course they listen when you speak.

THE KING  
Well, you know them now, don't you? Choose the one who will speak of you to our children.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Man, quit playin. You think cus you say that in front of everybody else I'm not gone say nothin back?

THE KING  
I would never think that.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Well, good! So then you know we not having no damn kids. I don't know what you laughing at, cuz, I'm serious. I'm just doing this for my window. And after that-- iss a wrap.

THE KING  
Ahh, Erik. I will tell you the truth in all things if I can only have your words ever before me. Choose our Speaker, will you? I would wed you this day.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Uhhh-- that one.

THE KING  
Which one?

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
You know who, man, quit playin. You're looking right at her!

THE KING  
You must say her name, Erik.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Tchhww. Fine. --Matha.

THE KING  
Thank you. Mathapelo, will you take on this task, and speak the truth of our stories?

THE HIGH PRIESTESS  
I will, my King. The Candidate honours me.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Yea, whatever. Just please, fast forward, somethin. My legs are falling asleep.

THE HIGH PRIESTESS  
Now the acts of the good King T'Chaka, are they not written about in our histories? And does not every child with new teeth learn of how he defeated The Corpse at the cost of his own life, and in so doing avenged the laughing Prince's death?

[Laugh frm. The Other, Belov.]

THE HIGH PRIESTESS  
\--and is it not so that he was so feared and so loved that he had barely been put to rest before Great Gorilla M'Baku, beloved of Hanuman, descended from the mountain and challenged Prince T'Challa's claim to the throne?

This is so, that is so, and so too are these. Now we shall learn of Prince T'Challa, and how _he_ came to the throne.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Do we have to?

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

Listen now, _this_ is how the quarrel began:

Humans are tiresome beasts, said Bast. I tell you there is no good in any of them.

You are wrong, said Hanuman, for he loved his children in all things. And I will not hear you in this.

All bend the knee to Hanuman, all fear his might, said sly Bast, but I tell you now I can get your children to worship even me.

O, o! You? said Hanuman. Well, who are you, then? Blood-paw Bast? Sleepaday Bast? And he could not speak for all his laughter.

Yes - that was the start of it all.

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

_Witnessed by Eun. Itri and Izem, Sb. Mpho, and Queen-companion Mosiuoa. Performed by Ss. Kakulupe, before her death_.

So it was that the Good Queen Ramonda laid King T'Chaka in the earth, in the black soil near the base of the Mountain, where no vibranium has ever touched. And the Taifa Ngao murmured from glitch-unto-fix. But neither Prince T'Challa nor Princess Shuri were yet of age - so what could they say? And the Good Queen Ramonda gathered all peoples before her, even the people of her father, who would not hear her ever since she went down the mountain.

'Last night I received a vision,' she said to them, 'the same vision my husband received from Bast.'

'We know of no such vision,' called out Great Gorilla M'Baku, barely a man and already an orphan, ahh. 'Perhaps it did not make its way up the mountain!' And the Jabari slapped their hands like _this_ , and they stomped their feet like _this_. And the other tribes looked on restlessly.

'In this vision, Bast asked the King to put away the Challenge,' said the Good Queen Ramonda, 'and be rid of all its blood.'

'E, e!' said the Great Gorilla. 'How clever your kitten. And now the throne closes forever to outsiders, because the Silver Thief T'Chaka--' and M'Baku _spat_ upon the soil '--has deemed it so. Hnh?'

And he watched Ramonda the Queen with bared teeth. The disrespect! The air promised violence, you know.

'Not so, kinsman,' she said calmly, 'for if you challenge my son and he cannot see you for who you truly are, he will not die - but he will not be King.'

'Hanuman's task,' M'Baku translated, thunderstruck. 'We do not remember you begging our bitters of us! For you cannot do this without them.'

'And that is why I have asked you here today,' said the Good Queen Ramonda. 'Let we down this path together. For I will not see my family kill each other.'

'O you may have your bitterfruit, gold-one,' M'Baku replied, 'if I may have your son to challenge today.' And he pointed to the youth T'Challa, who was shaking with fury.

The youth T'Challa moved to accept, but the Good Queen-mother intercepted him.

'Great Gorilla, my son is still a child,' said the Good Queen Ramonda. 'And you may not fight him while I rule.'

'We are nearly of an age! Am I not a man? I am, I am! And I will not leave,' vowed M'Baku, 'till I have fought him.'

'Then you will stay here till his time comes,' said Ramonda, a true Jabari woman. And she tossed her head when the people began to murmur.

So for three long years M'Baku the Jabari leader was bloodbound to Birnin Zana. And there are no more singing halls there as you know, so M'Baku had to go up to the caves to call Hanuman. _Long a-go / the earth-was-new / and man-was-not / yet-born!_ And M'Baku resented the Good Queen Ramonda, and he loathed her children with half his heart.

But young Shuri could not help but love him, this big man with a surly lip and a song every morning - and everyone could not help but love what she loved. By and by the snow melted between them - and M'Baku took to greeting Ramonda's children very rudely. His face he made like _this_. See? Huh-huh-huh. For that is how the Jabari show affection. And the Prince and Princess were very fond of him. Wouldn't you be?  
  
So the years passed. And Prince T'Challa came to be a strong fighter, a quick thinker, a good man. He grew up very well. But so did M'Baku. Some days, it seemed, he would never stop growing. And Prince T'Challa watched him closely.

Ah, his sister thought to herself, he must be very scared - for she alone thought that the Great Gorilla would still challenge Prince T'Challa.

And she alone was unsurprised when, the morning of T'Challa's twentieth nameday, M'Baku threw down his staff and challenged the Prince for the throne.

 


	5. Chapter 5

 

Listen - the quarrel almost certainly started like this:

These strangemen, said Hanuman, have dared touch a god! It will not be borne. Come, sister, let us gather up my other children, and we will rescue our brother Anansi.

He expected to find her sleeping, but she lay in her bed awake. And she would not move. Brother, she said, you will not send more of your children down this path of blood. Anansi is needed where he is. We cannot take him back.

And Hanuman fell even deeper into his fury. Feckless child! Am I not your elder? I came to you as kin but I will leave you as your enemy. And he made as if to strike her where she lay.

But Bast leapt without flinching and tore half of Hanuman's heart from his chest. And while he lay there bleeding, she said this: Where you go, I will not follow. Now lay there and rest. I must take your cursed children from you now, that you may one day see reason once more.

And while he raged and wept she took his heart-half and buried it in the oldest, deepest part of the earth. And she curled up above the earth and fell into a heavy sleep, that the plant might grow big and strong.

Now the nearest humans, who were once as one people, had fallen upon each other fighting when they could not hear their gods. For Bast was sleeping, Anansi was taken, and Hanuman would not answer. And the noise of war finally grew so great that Bast awoke before the plant was full-grown. So she plucked it with her back teeth, where everyone knows new galaxies lie, and in so doing burned off the poison.

And with the herb grown from Hanuman's heart-half, she seduced the High Priestess Bashenga to her ways.

 

 


	6. Part Two.

   
A STRANGE FRUIT

The bitterfruit is aptly named. It is... like biting into hardening bile, I will say. My mouth immediately revolted, my body became weak - and the more I ate, the less I understood. Finally they had to tie me down and feed the rest of it to me piece by piece. They tell me I thrashed and fought and shook. But I do not remember any of it.

I remember the voice that came to me when I did not know where I was. And it said, come, T'Challa. But I did not understand.

Finally I saw a great Being before me, like nothing I have ever seen before or since. Even now the sight of them slips from my mind.

Their body was vastness, their eyes like lightning, their voice terror itself. Four sets of teeth they had, and four sets of shoulders; and from their neck I saw hanging the new worlds to come. Draped in the wind they stood before me, and I came to realise that it was I who was naked. And I was ashamed and confused.

But then they smiled, and I recognised Her. And I went to my knees in relief.

'Glory-to, Bast,' I said. 'What shall my task be?'

Come, child, She said. Follow me. And I did.

 THE CROCODILE

So Bast clothed me and took me from the city, beyond the walls, towards the Tana River that passes through our lands. It was unnaturally still and quiet, I saw, save for one tiny speck far off on the other side of the bank, half in the water. We came upon the speck quickly, and I saw that it was a crocodile.

And Bast bade me speak to her, and left me. But the crocodile appeared to be sleeping. And I stepped closer to the river to see if we were indeed alone. And there I saw, in the very middle of the water, far out from either bank, what looked to be a door. My heart raced within me at the sight, for I knew what my task must be.

Indeed, when I stepped back, the crocodile's eyes had opened.

And she did not speak but simply leapt at me and knocked me right into the water. I rolled to my feet back up onto the bank, trying to draw her fully out of the river, looking around for some kind of weapon with which to defend myself. But I saw nothing - and I reasoned that this must be for a purpose.

And when the crocodile came towards me again, I raised my hands and called out to her: 'Let me into your river, Crocodile, and I will be on my way.'

'How freely you speak my name!' Crocodile called back. 'And yet you do not know me.'

'Tell me who you are, then,' I said.

'Ho, ho, nice try,' said Crocodile, opening her mouth to snicker, 'but _you_ must tell _me_!

I still your hands  
I stop your mind  
I ruin all things of love -  
but without me,  
you shall never be  
the King.'

Before she had even finished speaking, she was at my feet, unnaturally fast - and as I dove backwards into the mud, I noticed that she appeared to be getting larger.

'You cannot hide from me, T'Challa!' she taunted. I ducked among the bushes and tried to catch my breath. And larger still she grew! 'I know you better than you know yourself. You think you can tire me out? Think again! You will never truly be rid of me.'

My heart was racing so fast, my mind had come to a still - and yet her last words made me pause. And I ran my mind over all that she had said so far. The truth of her came to me only as a gift of Bast. And I knew I had no other choice.

So I stood upright, and revealed myself. By now Crocodile had grown so big and ferocious, she had taken up half of the river, and was at the level of the trees. I had no hope of reaching the door without her noticing. So I did not try.

'I know who you are, Crocodile!' I called to her, opening my arms wide. And I walked into the rushing river, towards my death.

And Crocodile gnashed her teeth with joy. 'Ah, do you, really?' she asked. 'And I was having so much fun! Well, never mind, then. I will certainly enjoy this!'

And she raised her great flank and made as if to come down upon my head, and crush me. But I did not stop my steady advance.

'Fear,' I named her. 'You are fear!'

Crocodile paused - and then she said, 'Ah, _Bast_ it!' and collapsed into the river, slapping up huge waves of mud and water that swallowed me up. When I had swum out of the current and finally caught my feet, I wiped the mud from my face and saw that the crocodile was gone - and my sister was standing on the bank in front of me, waiting. And we smiled with relief at the sight of each other.

When I reached her, she pushed my arm gently and said, 'you _flinch_ too much, brother.' Even this was painful. 'See!'

'Well, in this life,' I said, rubbing at my shoulder, 'there are many things to flinch at-- ahh, sister, did you _have_ to hit me so hard?'

Shuri laughed with all her teeth shown. 'I was going for an authentic experience! But come, we must leave this place now. We cannot be late!' And she tugged my wrist and pulled me deep into the trees, away from the river and into foggy sinking swampland.

'Late for what?' I asked, as we leapt from stone to root without stopping. 'And what about the door?'

She snorted. 'What door, brother?''

I stopped to turn and point past the bank once my feet were steady, but the river was far behind us. When I turned back around, Shuri had gone - and the ape was there before me.

 THE APE

The ape held with him a small knife, and with this knife he appeared to be cutting carefully into the trunk of a tall, twisted mangrove.

'What is it you do there, Ape?' I asked him, sat atop a thick root a safe distance away. Ape grunted, and did not look up, and just kept slowly, slightly carving the tree.

He did not seem inclined to speak... and I was not inclined to make him. We passed a few hours this way, I like a bird in the trees watching him down. No hunger or thirst could touch me - and he would not look at me no matter how I stared.

Gradually, I came to notice that the marks he was making were becoming lower over time. And I saw that he was slowly sinking into the swamp land.

'You are sinking, Ape,' I called to him. And still he did not look up at me. But this time he responded:

'I am fine where I am,  
though I sink where I stand -  
Best to be sucked straight down,  
Than to swallow myself down.  
But come now, Prince:  
don't you know me?'

'I do not know you yet,' I said. 'Come now, put away your knife. Sit with me, and let me learn you.'

At this, Ape finally looked at me and laughed. 'You are a bold one,' he said, shaking his head. And he returned to his task before I could respond. And I sighed in frustration, for though I knew him, I did not recognise him, and so I could not speak his name.

This time, barely a fourth of an hour had passed before the swamp had swallowed him up until the waist. And still, he carved hopelessly into that tree. I hopped to a much closer tree, the better to draw his attention.

'Ape, you are sinking,' I said again. 'Come away from the tree.' Finally he deigned to meet my eyes.

'My task is right here before me,' he said, glowering even as he sunk. 'And you would take it from me?'

'Yes!' I said, coming closer yet again. 'You know I would take it for you, if I could.'

But Ape narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. 'Take care,' he cautioned, lodging the knife into the tree. 'You are not being challenged for my _affections_.'

I scoffed. 'And glory to Bast because of it,' I said bitterly, 'for you would certainly become King if I was. Come, quickly, take my hand!'

'I need not challenge anyone, or change what I do,' Ape said, setting his face against me, even as the swamp sucked him in up to his jaw. ' _I_ could be King just as I yyyhm--'

And the swamp closed in over his head.

'O! how you vex me,' I snapped, diving into the swamp after him. 'If you are not pride itself--'

And the swamp bubbled up around me and carried me up, up, back up onto the mangrove root - and there was laughing M'Baku, at last with his arms around me.

 M'BAKU

'O o! How unhappy you look to see me!' exclaimed M'Baku, smiling as he tipped up my chin. I wanted to shy away, to shake him, to hide in his arms and never emerge - but before I could do anything, he let me go and stood apart from me. 'And yet you always knew this day would come, did you not? I was always going to return to my people.'

'I could be your people,' I said, hopelessly, 'and you could be mine.'

M'Baku laughed kindly. 'Perhaps in another life, gold-one,' he said, taking me by the hand. 'But in this one you shall be King, and I must remain on my mountain.'

And as he spoke, we sped an enormous distance, from the swamp, to the forest, to the drylands, once more through the city and again through the walls, and now up the mound toward the caves. Of course it was now that the hunger and thirst of the past few hours reached me...

'A mountain did not stop my mother,' I muttered.

M'Baku sent me an almost pitying look. 'Your mother did not go down the mountain,' he said, very gently, 'your father took her away.' And he patted me on the back while I choked in shock. 'The Panther tribe will take nothing more from the Jabari, Prince - not even something freely given. But go now: a God awaits you.'

And with that, he pushed me into darkness.

\- _Being An Account of The Evermost King T'Challa, The Last Sovereign of Wakanda... From the Earliest Days of His Reign_.

 

 


	7. Interlude: 'This Is The Story of How Queen Ramonda Was Stolen Away From Us, And I Am Only Telling You Now Because I Have Had Enough Of You Asking.'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As told to M'Baku (age 8).

 

'So the proud young Panther-prince one day struttin about in all his _gold_ , when his EYE fall upon the Haven. And his heart grow too sour to eat. For his brother the laughing Prince had fallen in love with a Jabari woman. A woman he met with in secret, who did not even recognise one of the throne's heirs! _Tt-tt-tt_.  
  
And the Panther-prince was deeply vex.

<<I can not rest>> he say <<while those beasts up there live.>>

Now it was akukho-mthetho in those days for a Jabari woman to wed anyone of Bashenga's line. And T'Chaka meant to have his brother's lover shamed, for he think she falsity. So he fixe his heart a heel our Great-Gorilla.

This is why we spit onna soil when we speak that name. T'Chaka! _Ttt-chgw_! For a pride like _that_ can only poison the mouth.

So T'Chaka made as if a climb us down. And Ha-glory-to ever so patient-and-kind, he let him walk about for only a few day so before he take him aside and say, 'come, _I_ will show you the way.' For he saw that _la_ -zy cat sleepin still and could not be bothered.

But the Panther-prince run fast fast to. Ha! He run alllll the way to the river. Like so: _hoo-hoo-hoo_! Pi-ty-prince sha.

But we all know what he found there. _Tt-tt-tt_. Ahhh...yes. It was there he found... Ramonda, the water woman. A true Jabari woman, haba. Big loss, ahaahn, biiig loss.

Ahh. Well, Ramonda they say have half the heart of Ha-glory-to, for she love her people and laugh for them only. So when she saw the proud little cat, bow-legged and alone, away from all his warrior- _wives_ , her eye come down like stars. And she fixe up her bow to kill him.

And the Panther-prince so big na but he only human, abi? For who can look on Ramonda and not love her? And which gold-one can look on Jabari and not covet o? They see no gold a buy we, and they wan' our peace!

So the Panther-prince surrender, and he say << what will it take for you to come down this mountain with me?>> For everything a thing of debt to the gold-men they, you know. That is why we pay them quick, then send them on they way, else they get too cattish and sleep here.

We living here do not speak that tongue, say Ramonda. And she drew back her bow further.

I wish to know our children, say the Panther-prince: come, let us find them down the mountain.

And Ramonda laugh and lower her bow. Ha-glory-to! Truly, you are a wicked man. If it was not forbidden, and if my heart did not belong to another, I would certainly go down this mountain with you.

And the wicked wicked Prince remember what he know of our people. And he Challenge Ramonda and say, Ask me who I am true, water one, and I will change the law for you.

Ahh... how Ramonda wept then! Like you hav' never seen tears, she wept so. And she rub up the red mud of the river onto her face, for a challenge to God is greater than even the strongest of loves.

I did not mean to weep you, <<good stranger>>! I should never bring you pain, the Panther-prince say. Him they put onna throne, when even this he could not see! _Ttt-chgw_.

And Ramonda let her arrow fly-to the earth at his feet. You would turn away from your own shame? Not so! I will have you, Thief, and you will be mine. Answer only this question, and I will go down the mountain with you.

You block up the ear's path,  
and the mountain down, too -  
Tell me now, who are you?

Answer me once or not at all, gold-one.

And the blood run out-on the Prince face, for his brother speak often of his lover: a clever, riddling woman she, with beauty abound measure, and a will of true-wood. Of course T'Chaka know the answer!

But it is true as they say: a thief respect no gain but his own.

I am arrogance, say T'Chaka, I am pride. And I am yours for the rest of my days. Do with me as you see fit.

And he take Ramonda back to her father house, where she left behind her all her jewellery and half her heart. Then down the mountain they went. And the laughing Prince gave up his love when he met her coming down; and he went far-away, and never did return...'

'That is sad,' M'Baku decided.

Simi his sister laughed at him, surprised he had not yet fallen asleep. 'What do you mean it is sad, little long-arm? That is how it happened!'

'Still it is sad,' said M'Baku, turning away from her. And his dreams were troubled that night.

 


	8. Part Three.

 

_These three things Bast has shown me: fear, pride, and truth. One thing I have but must not give up... one thing I have and cannot keep... and one thing I do not have and must seek. We cannot grasp the truth if we but watch from the shadows - and so it is time, my people, for us to build up a bridge, and flood the world with light..._

\- King T'Challa, in the Truth of Kings, repeating: a recording of the first words of each king. Where absent audio, spoken by Queen-companion Mosiuoa. Published to .vib for posterity.

 

* * *

 

 **904** Unacknowledged Answers, **568** Unanswered Questions, **3521** Uninvolved Collaborations.

 **1** New Question from Nakia, of Fanaka's spoken line:

My king,

You have changed. You know there was no one more pleased than I to hear of us opening our doors to the world beyond. Had I known the cost of the key, I wouldve kept the doors wedged shut myself!

You walk around with shutters in your eyes, Majesty. And that _man_ , that poisonous spider, who wears your ring on his finger-- you will not tell me that you love him. He is always a moment from violence. But then, these days, it seems, so too are you. His treatment of Ross will earn us no favours, you know.

Tell me, how did this American convince you to marry him? How can you bear to be with him when he is so vicious? How can you tolerate the things he says to you? To anyone?

T'Challa - why have you shut us out?

( _Pose new question_ ) ( _Answer_ ) ( _Open to collaboration_ ) ( _Publish to .vib_ ) ( _Recycle thread_ )

 

* * *

 

 _From the Court of T------a-king, of the line of B------a. Year 1, Month 8, Ten-day. Quest. of marriage, answer-1, session-10, first-hour. Record. by Ss. F----h. XH transcr. by Ss. U----i. SW, ORO, BRB, AMH transl. by Sb. A--m. YRB, IGB, HS transl. by Ss. H----a. ENG transl. by Br. T---e. Avail. per .vib and stream_.

THE HIGH PRIEST  
We gather here today to celebrate the union of the King T'Challa... and his beloved... Erik Stevens. We ask now if anyone wishes to step forward and speak with joy of this... unexpected joining.

[No response fr. assembly.]

THE HIGH PRIEST  
Well. We will pass the time for loving, then. Now we shall reach into our histories, to see that which will be combined. First, My King... who are you?

THE KING  
I am T'Challa, from the line of the First King Bashenga: child of Ramonda and T'Chaka, brother to Shuri, beloved of Bast, and keeper of the throne.

[No response fr. The High Prst.]

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Wassa matter, Z? Cat got your tongue? It's my turn now. So go 'head. Ask me who I am.

THE HIGH PRIEST  
\--Out of deference to the paltry family history of Erik Stevens, we will hear only from King T'Challa.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Nah, you ain have to defer to me none, Unc! We real cool. Huh? You member that one? So, c'mon. Ask me who I am.

THE HIGH PRIEST  
My King--

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Nah, he's not the one talking to you. _I_ am. So ask me. Ask me who the fuck I am!

THE KING  
Zuri, please. Let us be done with this.

THE HIGH PRIEST  
Well, then. Candidate... hhh. Candidate, who are you?

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
I am N'Jadaka, son of Prince N'Jobu!

[Commotion.]

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
I found my daddy with panther claws in his chest. T'Chaka wan't no king - he was a murderer!

[Commotion.]

THE KING  
Well, then. Now that that is finally done with... how do you want to be known?

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
I-- what?

THE KING  
When they write of you after our marriage, do you want to be known as Erik, or as N'Jadaka?

[Commotion. No resp. fr. The Other, Belov.]

THE QUEEN-MOTHER  
T'Challa, if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would not have believed it of you. You cannot mean to still marry this-- this charlatan! Your father would never--

THE KING  
Will you still say this to me, Mother? You who knew Father even better than I? What he says is true. Even now he wears Uncle N'Jobu's ring.

[Commotion. Laugh fr. The Other, Belov.]

DAUGHTER OF THE RIVER TRIBE  
My King, the throne has not mixed first lines in many centuries. How then will you explain this?

THE KING  
I do not have to.

THE GENERAL  
'Before the Taifa Ngao, the King _will_ explain'!

THE KING  
How can I? Erik is the Truth of my life. I would not be King without him. And I will take great pains to keep him at my side.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
I'm not tryna be your lil kept boy, you fuckin freak! None of this was real, I'm not really tryna get married to you. I'm just here for the throne.

THE KING  
Yes, as you've said: you want me dead, you want the throne, you want our weapons... so forth and so on.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
So _forth_ and--

THE KING  
The throne is right here, cousin. And you will have it this way or not at all.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Nah, fuck that. I'm exercising my bloodright. I'm Challenging you for the mantle of king and Black Panther, right here, right now.

[Commotion.]

THE KING  
Well, as you have legally declared yourself my Candidate, I am obliged to decline your request.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
\--well, how bout I fucking gut you right now? How bout that?

[Commotion.]

THE GENERAL  
Ayo! The King!

THE PRINCESS  
Brother!

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
What the fuck.

THE KING  
How many knives do you plan to waste this way? It is just that I like to be prepared.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
You really wore that shit under your wedding robes, huh? Dag... that's fucked up, man. And here I thought you trusted me.

THE KING  
Let us say... I am closing up the holes in my defense.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Well, you can't stay closed off forever, cuz. I'll get you one day. Believe'at. Ey, get off me, man. I said, get _off_ me.

THE KING  
That is enough, W'Kabi. Cousin: the throne would pass a thousand hands before it passed to you. While you were working on your meagre weaponry... I made sure of this.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Maybe my 'meagre weaponry' will shorten that list, huh? Ever think about that?

THE KING  
I have thought long and hard about you, and what you would do with what you are owed.

You look at this place and all you can see is what it has taken. _That_ is your bloodright. I will not try to make you love this place. But I will not let you take the throne. I will give you all you deserve - but you cannot have that.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
I waited my entire life for this moment. To come here, and kill you, and take the throne. What the fuck else do you got that you think that I could want?

THE KING  
My life.

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Oh yea? Take off that necklace, cuz, and we'll see how much you really mean that.

THE KING  
Put down your poisonous heart and let us see who you truly are. Are you Erik? Or are you N'Jadaka?

THE OTHER, BELOVED  
Who I truly am? Ha ha. It ain't that deep, cuz. Not with you. You can just call me _Killmonger_.

[Commotion.]

THE KING  
Zuri! No!

[Laugh fr. The Other, Belov.]

Recording truncated.

 


	9. Part Four.

 

THE SPIDER

And when my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the cave I saw Bast lying there, asleep, with her head in a many-legged man's lap. And I stood there and beheld him till he turned his face to me.

And I shook with fear, for I knew I did not know Him. But He laughed and looked at me kindly, though His lips did not move.

It is always good to see one of My brother's children! He said, rising to his many feet. Are you ready to meet one of Mine?

'What is it you will show me?' I asked, warily. For He reminded me of Shuri somehow, with how His words lay carefully above the surface, holding some unknown game lying hidden underneath.

The cave shook with the laughter of this unknown god. Still Bast slept on.

I will show you the truth, little Prince, He said. And His eyes gleamed with something like malice. But only if you prove willing.

And I stood in my fear and I faced Him.

'Show me,' I said. And He looked at me and laughed, and took me across the sea. And it was there that He brought me my Truth, which I hold precious to me above all things...

\- _Being An Account of The Evermost King T'Challa, The Last Sovereign of Wakanda... From the Earliest Days of His Reign_.

 


	10. Chapter 10

 

He used to wonder why his father ever told him about Wakanda at all. Why only tell half, huh? The half about the rhinos and gardens and ships - about never going hungry, and never being sad. Why not tell Erik what drove him halfway 'cross the world in the first place?

But now he understands: because it would've hurt him.

And as a kid he was already hurting in a lot of ways his dad couldn't have seen coming. It's just different when you have kids. Harder. Even when they're the best damn kids on the planet.

Like, Cici is _loud_ , man-- smarter than him by half, forever running headfirst right into trouble. Barely even lets Erik dress her most mornings. She's just so eager to _get out_. Always taking apart her auntie's inventions, ha. Always singing and climbing all over him. His firstborn, his sunrise. His proof.

And Ade is... Ade's different. A lil hesitant, a lil shy--but so damn smart, and so sweet. Like the world could never hurt him he's so sweet. T'Challa says Erik babies him. Erik can't blame him; he couldn't understand. See, Ade was early. _Pre-mature_. They wasn't ready. And T'Challa was murdered as far as he fucking knew, and Cici was sick, and Erik was, again, fucking useless. But then Ade came. Like Erik called him: there he was. And Erik could be, again.

On days when he has to be by himself, when he has to remember who he is, he remembers that. Without his family-- he is nothing. You see he remembers the nothing. On bad days he craves it, even.

But today is a good day.

'Daddy,' Cici whispers. 'Ade has a question.' Maaan. Cici and her _timing_. Everytime Cici talks during prayer, Erik has to have a civil conversation with Okoye, 'cus T'Challa's a lil bitch who wants all his friends to get along.  
  
Erik cannot count the number of times he's had to say, 'Okoye is not your friend, she's your employee - and I don't even fuckin like you, why I gotta like her?'

'Da-dee,' Cici hisses, very loudly. 'Ade has a _question_!'

Erik opens his eyes and sees T'Challa in his spot, between the gap of Cici and Ade, smiling serenely with eyes unopen. Such an asshole. Anytime he gets to invite Okoye over for dinner he makes that face. Erik's definitely going to kill him one day.

He pushes the well-worn promise away, and tends to his kids. 'Oh yea?' he says, patting them both on opposite sides of their faces. They cling closer to him, standing half-in and out of his lap, clearly now done with prayer entirely. They smell of the room's incense; of the tearock butter he'd put on them that morning. 'What's your question, lil man?'

Ade makes a face like this is all news to him, and scrunches up his face. 'I suppose...,' he says, very carefully, 'I was wondering... about... er--' And he gives Cici a vaguely panicked look. Boy can't bullshit to save his _life_.

'Ade was wondering,' says Cici smoothly, his best girl, his little _lying_ girl, 'why do _we_ praise Ha-glory-to and Bast, but you praise the spider god _only_.'

Ade blinks at his sister, then turns back to Erik, ducking his head. 'Oh, I wondered that, too,' he whispers, as if he is sorry for it.

And Erik's heart goes warm within him at the sight of them. But his arms won't fit around them this morning. So he just carefully sits them down in front of him.

'The reason I praise Anansi,' he says, 'is cus, uh. Cus he was with me in America.'

And the two listen to him closely, because even though he speaks of Oakland often, he doesn't talk about America. That's T'Challa's job. And T'Challa said he would never lie.

But Erik understands now, why his father never told him everything. At last: he sees.

'When I was alone,' Erik continues, swallowing hard, 'he took care of me. He told me, _Anansi never fails! I will do for you now. See, I will get you what you need_.'

And Erik looks at T'Challa, this man who rules over his life, this man he cannot hate or love any less - and he sees his eyes are open, alight, watching them all. Like stars coming down.

'And you know what?' says Erik, while his children watch on, rapt. No longer knowing if he speaks of god or man or something in-between. 'He was right.' 

 


	11. Part Five.

 

'I am good, I am clean,' says Hanuman. 'I am wicked, I am small. Who am I?'

Bast does not answer, so her brother asks again. 'I am tired,' she says finally. 'I have no heart for this.'

'Please,' he says. He who has not asked a thing of her in all this time. 'I am good.'

'You are clean.'

'I am wicked.'

'You are _small_ ,' Bast snaps. 'Who are you?'

And Hanuman laughs. 'Come now, who do you think I am? I who have seen you fall in love with my children. My sister - I am yours!'

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long author notes here:
> 
> (1) Recognisable dialogue is from the film, or a riff thereon.  
> (2) Sorry about the riddles... I, uh. I tried my best lmao.  
> (3) I didn't actually know until I was over halfway thru that some of my canon tweaks actually pretty closely align with comicbook canon already (i.e. T'Chaka dying at Klaue's hands when T'Challa's just a teenager).  
> (4) The real Hanuman occupies a very different space in Hinduism! As does Bast, in her sphere; as does Anansi, in his. Still q seriously conflicted about Hanuman calling Wakandans his children tho.  
> (5) I am sure my attempts at speaking pidgin in the Interlude are bizarre, as I kept unintentionally slipping into more familiar speech patterns. I welcome informed criticism on the subject.  
> (6) More on the Interlude: 'akukho-mthetho' appears to quite literally mean 'no law' in Xhosa. I'm misusing it here to mean something like... _lawlessness_. A harsh de facto forbidding that would require explicit legal protection in order to be permitted.  
>  (7) I wanted to write M'Baku's sister as Ce'Athauna Asira Davin/Queen Divine Justice/Chanté Giovanni Brown, but she's got a p wicked backstory herself! Anyway in canon I was able to find M'Baku's brother Mandla, but I didn't see where Asira was written as his sister.  
> (8) Cici's name is what I think of as playful shorthand for Sesethu, a Xhosa name meaning _ours_. And Ade's name is short for Adebowale, a Yoruba name meaning _the crown has come home_.  
>  (9) If you read a somewhat familiar phrase in this and though 'is that the slogan-- ? is that the poem--? is that from-- ?' very likely, yes!, yes, it is. But you can always ask.  
> (10) The Tana River is a real river. So go ahead and jot that--


End file.
